


The Story Of The Wild Ones

by Idle_Absinthe



Category: Black Veil Brides, Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones - Black Veil Brides (Album)
Genre: Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Universe, POV Original Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27259288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idle_Absinthe/pseuds/Idle_Absinthe
Summary: This story is meant to expand upon the one presented in Wretched and Divine but I'm not trying to make it cannon. The characters are somewhat inspired by the current, (2020) members of the band but they are modified in order to make the story dynamic and also because I don't know them IRL. There's romance in this story but it's not the main focus and there's no smut so as to be respectful.A legion of freedom fighters led by five young men prepares to destroy a oppressive totalitarian regime. Shadow men stalk the ruins of society in search of stragglers, a bedraggled group of furious garbage-wearing punks hides out in the middle of nowhere, and the only glimpse of the future is a series of wildly contradicting prophecies written by a 1,000-year-old psychic with chronic forgetfulness and a warped sense of humor. Young people grapple with the need to fight for their survival and the desire to be good. Hate fights with love, courage with fear, and peace wrestles with the winning side of a war. And Ada? She trips right into the middle of the mess. With the future of the world at stake, they'll all fight and grow together. But what will it cost them to win?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. Falling Down

Ada’s feet crunched over the dirt and with her free hand, she swiped her sweaty bangs from her eyes, squinting into the glaring sun. Someone was walking over the cracked earth in the distance. She didn’t dare call out to them, but it didn’t matter. Moments after she noticed them, they noticed her, their head turned towards her and they paused. Nodded slightly. Both turned away from each other and walked in opposite directions. She yearned to chase after them but two people in one place presented twice the target for the Shadow Men. And there was always the possibility they could be one of those survivors desperate enough or crazy enough to shoot her, rob her, and leave her for the vultures. She almost didn’t care.

Almost.

Minus the dying and the vultures she thought she might not actually mind giving up her stuff for a few minutes of human contact, but supplies were getting harder and harder to come by and it was impossible to survive in the desert without them. Finding the landmark she was looking for, a huge rust-colored boulder with a tiny withering tree in a crack at the top, she stopped walking and slid her pack off her shoulders, dropping it on the ground at her feet and scattering more fine, sandy dust on her boots. Chewing on her bottom lip, she rummaged around inside and pulled out a crudely drawn map. It was dirty. And crisscrossed with spider web white lines from being folded or crumpled too many times. With the sun sinking slowly, she had maybe forty-five minutes to find a suitable place to camp before it became too dangerous to move. Somewhere near one of the thin, reedy streams that would be evaporated when the summer heat really kicked in. There were a series of abandoned shantytowns cloistered around where the streams ran thickest, (not that they were ever very thick,) and Ada estimated the nearest one was about half a mile from her rock. Perfect. 

It took her less than fifteen minutes to arrive and she filled up her empty canteen in the stream. She drank deeply, far too thirsty to wait for the dust to settle to the bottom, and filled it again, slotting it back into the loop on her pack. The air was heavier now. Suffused with sweltering warmth and without a breath of wind to stir it, it also felt to Ada like night was truly descending. Which meant  _ they _ were almost out. When the Shadow Men patrolled during the day they arrested or killed whoever they could, but night was their domain. Ada didn’t know exactly why night made them so strong, maybe it was because of the camouflage, or the fact that most of the fugitives were asleep, but she knew not to be found in the open after dark. 

She approached one of the wooden shacks. They had actually been real houses decades ago when things were different and ordinary people could choose where they lived but over the years most had fallen victim to the elements and a few had collapsed completely. This one seemed alright to her though. So she stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind her. She tiptoed over a threadbare carpet that looked like it might once have been plush white but was now stained with orange desert dust blown in from the glassless window frames and patched with holes where vermin or the elements had worn away the carpet completely. She moved warily. There might have already been someone squatting inside. She pressed her ear against the rear wall, which sat in nearly the center of the house and held her breath. Listened. Several long seconds passed. She heard nothing. Satisfied, she exhaled and spun away. Now she needed dinner. And a place to hide.

She found the kitchen, which was really mostly a living room with a small square of tile-floored kitchenette on the far side. There was a collection of petrified armchairs in a semicircle around a squat wooden table. On the kitchenette side, there was an ancient refrigerator next to a pantry. Both of their doors were wide open. Both were empty. She searched the cupboards, but to no avail. Looters must have already come for whatever canned food had once been inside.  _ Figures _ , she thought. She was mildly curious why she didn’t find any utensils in the house. Sure, silverware was an understandable thing for someone to take, it could be used as a weapon, but who in the desert would waste their valuable time and energy carrying around  _ plates? Maybe they could break them and use the shards as some kind of spike? Or they could lob it like a frisbee. _ .. She shook her head.  _ Not important _ . She had to find a place to hide where she could rest for a few hours.

Ada glanced at the pantry, an idea forming in her head. She pushed the already ajar door open wider and inspected the inside. It was filled with dusty wooden shelves that were held up by pegs that jutted out horizontally from the sides and when she tilted her head back she could see that it extended up taller than the door frame so that even if someone were to open the door, they would have to look up to see what was on the top shelf. Perfect. She shrugged off her backpack and, standing on tiptoes, tossed it up onto the shelf, then she tested the bottom shelf pressing it gingerly with her boot. It seemed sturdy enough. She shut herself in, blinking in the darkness, she waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. When she could make out the ghosts of the shelves she braced her back against the closed door, and clambered blindly to the top.

Unrolling her sleeping bag was harder than climbing. By the time she finally figured out where the zipper was and positioned herself against the wall away from the edge she was exhausted. She was curled up with her knees almost to her chest, and it might have been cramped but she would live. She was hidden. She was safe. Ignoring the low growl from her stomach, she wiggled deeper into the sleeping bag and rested her head on her pack. 

Some hours later she was woken by a peculiar scratching sound. Like something scraping under the floorboards a distance below her. Mind still clouded with sleep, she shimmied closer to the edge to try to see if there was a mouse or something moving around on the pantry floor. The shelf wobbled and tipped, ready to slide off its pegs. She whipped her hands and feet to the walls, barely bracing herself in time and the shelf settled back onto its track.  _ Okay, so no doing that again _ , she thought, trying to calm the galloping of her heart.

_ Scrape Crrrrr Chck!  _ The noise came again. Ada froze, heartbeat in her ears. That definitely wasn’t a rat.

_ CRRR-THUNK!  _ She heard the slam of cupboard doors flying open and something crashed to the floor outside her pantry. A second later there was a thump and whispered swearing. She skittered against the back wall of the pantry, trying very very hard not to breathe too heavily. Someone was here. Several someones by the sounds of feet and low voices.

A few moments passed in terror before words started to filter through.

“-should really put in a taller cabinet. I keep hitting my head on the way out.” The voice was low. A deep baritone that would have been soothing if she hadn’t been so terrified to hear a voice at all.

“Oh, yeah man. We’ll just retool our whole secret entrance so that you don’t have to learn how to  _ duck _ .” The remark was met with stifled laughter and a dry chuckle, that same low tone.

“Glad you’re seeing reason.”

A third male voice, quieter, cooler. “Jax will be here soon.”

“He should be here already. Jackass is always late,” remarked the same voice that had teased the other man.

“He probably just wants to be dramatic,” came yet another voice younger and quieter than the rest, “It’s not like him to give us anything without a flair.” 

Ada’s head was spinning. Who  _ were _ these people? It was unheard of for survivors to travel together. Sometimes two people could make it, but any more than that slowed you down. And who was this Jax they were talking about? What kind of information did he have? She leaned in closer, not wanting to miss a single word, but there seemed to be a lull in the conversation. Apparently they were anticipating this Jax guy to arrive at any second. They weren’t disappointed. Footsteps in the direction of the entryway sent whining creaks through the house and Ada heard the squeaky door to the living room wail open. Without preamble, he asked,

“Were you followed?” His voice was brash and nasally and it wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the baritone.  Ada cursed herself. These people could kill her, the voice wasn't  _ pleasant. _

“Jax,” came the deep voice, “We took a tunnel _. _ We were literally underground _. _ ”

“Gotta be sure, Andy.”

“I never said you could call me that.”

“Well what  _ should _ I call you? ‘Cause I sure as hell ain’t callin’ you  _ The Prophet.”  _ Someone groaned in exasperation.

“Can we move on please? We have more important things to discuss,” snapped the man named Andy.

“Sure,” said Jax, “But if I’m going to give you guys this info, I’m gonna need to know that you won’t rope us into it. We’re not lookin’ to take on a whole army of Shadows.”

“ _ Fine, _ ” said Andy, “We’ll leave the Roaches out of it, now what is it?” Ada’s pulse fluttered. They sounded exactly like the type that would aggravate the Mogul even more. Which would be bad news for her. She could scrape out a living here as things were, but if there was an all-out war, if The Mogul sent more Shadow Men out into the desert, well…  _ I’d be lucky to last a month _ , she thought. She was desperate to look out, and she noticed a tiny gap between the door and the top of its frame. If she leaned out just a  _ little _ closer, she might actually get a good view. She was almost there, maybe an inch away when her shelf slipped again. She threw out her arms to regain her balance but to no avail.

She and her shelf went crashing to the floor.  _ Very. Very. Loudly. _

White-hot pain seared across her palms and reverberated through her wrists and knees. There was a long pregnant pause and If they said anything Ada couldn’t hear them over the pounding in her ears. Someone ripped the door open and dragged her roughly by the collar of her shirt out of the pantry. Again she landed on her hands and knees. Dazed and terrified she shoved her feet back under her and bolted for the door to the living room. She was dimly aware that she had surprise on her side.  _ Maybe _ , she thought,  _ maybe I can escape _ . She made it about three wobbly steps before he caught her, pinning her arms to her sides with his. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck when he roared.

“Who are you?” She shuddered, recognizing Jax by his voice. “You spyin’ for F.E.A.R?” Raven cringed away from him, slamming her eyes shut. 

“I-” She choked out, trying to swallow her terror long enough to explain. She gritted her teeth against the panic and thrashed against his hold on her.  _ No, no, NO! _ she couldn’t just let herself be killed. Not after all she’d done to survive. She bucked forward with every fiber of her strength, putting as much space between her and him as she could then she slammed her head back as hard as she could. She heard a snap and pain exploded in the back of her skull. He screamed but his hold didn't relinquish, it tightened. His muscles flexed around her until she was sure he would crack her ribs. Her lungs burned painfully. A reminder that they'd like to be hyperventilating but they could barely draw breath. She kicked her feet but they were inches from the floor and they couldn't find any purchase. Blackness began to creep around the edges if her vision

“Jax, put her down!” The deep-voiced man, Andy, she thought she remembered was his name, though this time with a bite of steel in the quality of his voice. One that was tinged with surprise and had been missing when he'd spoken before. Jax ignored him. 

There was a sound like a whole book of matches being struck at once, or perhaps that was a figment of her oxygen-deprived brain and suddenly the room was filled with white light as a tiny bolt of crackling energy shot from one of the men's outstretched hands and struck Jax in the shoulder centimeters from her neck. She shrieked. He jolted back, dropping Ada onto the filthy carpet like a sack of potatoes. She gasped and spun around, pulling her knife from her belt, and backed against the far wall of the room. 

“What the hell was that?!? Who are you?!? How-?” 

“Calm down.” Said one of the men in a quiet voice that under other circumstances may have been serene.

“ _Calm down?!?_ ” A breathy hysterical laugh burbled from her mouth. “You want me to calm down?” She raised her trembling knife a few inches like she meant to threaten them but wasn't quite intimidating enough to pull it off. “What  _ the hell  _ is going on?!?”

Something clicked and a small orange light bloomed. One of the men was holding a silver cigarette lighter.  Now that she was facing them she could see that five of the six of them were dressed alike in black leather jackets and black jeans. At least she was pretty sure they were black, but it was still dark, the only light coming from a silver lighter in the hands of a slight man with spiky black hair. 

She brandished the knife at them, putting on her best scary face. It wasn’t very effective which probably had something to do with the fact that she was now fully hyperventilating and her arm was trembling so hard it was difficult to hold the knife.

“Woah,” Said Andy putting his palms out towards her like she was a wild animal he was trying to calm. “Easy. No one’s going to hurt you.” 

“Speak for yourself,” Spat Jax, glaring at her from between the bloody fingers he had clutched over his nose.

“Jax, Shut up,” Snapped Andy, the steel in his voice as strong as it had ever been.

He turned his gaze on Ada. She shrank back, fearful at the sternness she found there. She remembered the conversation she’d overheard and a lead weight dropped into her stomach. She knew too much.

“You..,” her voice broke and she shut her eyes for just a second, trying to compose herself. She curled her fingers into the rough, rotting wall that was holding her up and breathed.  _ In. Out. In. _ Again she looked for an exit but found nothing. “You can’t let me go.”  _ In. Out.  _ She flicked her eyes up to meet his. “Can you? The other men shifted uneasily. The young man holding the lighter lowered it slightly, looking around at his compatriots.

“Andy…” said one of the men in a tone not unlike warning. Ada inspected Andy’s face, trying desperately to read a forgiving answer there.

Andy, however, didn’t break her gaze although his eyebrows drew together and his lips straightened into a thin line. 

“No,” he said softly. His gaze dropped to the floorboards.

“Andy, what the hell are  you gonna do?” Asked the man with the lighter in a hushed voice. Ada shivered. Andy turned away and pinched the bridge of his nose. His face scrunched up in frustration, then, 

“ _ Fuck!” _ he swore. 

Ada laughed. She couldn’t help it. All the fear in her was seeping out as hysteria and the understatement of that curse to their current situation was  _ ridiculous _ . She immediately clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle it. “I’m sorry,” she tried to say in between fingers and peals of laughter, “It’s just…” She dissolved again. When she began to catch her breath she noticed that most of the men around her looked like they wanted to laugh too. One of them, a stocky muscled man with a black bandanna around his head,  _ was  _ giggling. She could tell despite the fact that he was trying to hide it. Even Andy looked almost like he wanted to smile but the look was gone before she could be sure she hadn’t imagined it. Her laughter petered out. It wasn’t really humor, more like an outburst of emotions. Mostly panic. Ok, completely panic and she was pretty sure the men didn’t really find it funny either. Jax hadn't even seemed to notice, he was so busy glaring daggers at the one with the long hair and hooked nose who Ada was pretty sure was the man who had shot that sparkly…  _ thing _ at him. It had clearly hurt. Jax was still rubbing his chest with his free hand.

She wanted to plead with them. To swear that she wouldn’t talk, she had no one to talk  _ to, _ but somehow she just knew it wouldn’t make any difference. They were going to take her or kill her or worse and she had to find a way to stop them. Andy stepped forward and crouched down.

“What’s your name?” She stared at him. Now would be her only chance to bolt. If they got her in that tunnel they mentioned it would be over.

“I’m…” She glanced at the door to the entryway. It was ajar, about twelve feet away. There was a gap between Jax and the guy with the lighter. She shivered at the insanity of going out after dark but she could make it. She was sure.

“Uh, I’m…” She bolted. She was through the door by the time she heard a surprised yell bouncing off the walls behind her but she had always been light on her feet. Speed was how you survived. The moon outside was full, casting a bluish light on the dusty scene as she rocketed past dilapidated houses. They didn’t bother calling after her but she could hear their feet pounding against the compacted ground. She urged her legs to move faster and hurdled over the rotting remains of a wooden fence. There was a loud  _ CRACK  _ and the ground pitched and rumbled beneath her feet. She yelped and sprawled onto the gritty earth. Her knife clattered away from her into the semidarkness.

"Calm down!" She couldn't tell which one of them yelled. She scrabbled against the dust, her feet trying to find purchase underneath her. An iron hand snatched her arm from behind. Hopelessness slammed down her throat and her face crumpled. She was going to die.

"No one's going to hurt you," the one who held her said, even as he locked her wrists behind her back. She didn’t know who it was but she couldn’t go quietly. She would find an opportunity. She would bite him. She would scratch his eyes out. Ada slammed the terror into the back of her throat. The others had caught up now. Even Jax, who still had blood trickling from his nose clearly visible in the moonlight. It made him look like a madman.

"You said you couldn't let me go.” She growled. Andy crouched down to meet her gaze, heaving in deep breaths of the dusty air.

"You have to come with us. I’m sorry, we don’t have a choice." Ada glared.

"You mean you’re not giving me a choice!" she yelled. Jax huffed and stalked forward, snatching her collar and forcing her to her feet. Andy bristled.

“No,” he snapped. “You can go with them or me but either way this is gonna be your last night out here.”She shivered. The man holding her arms loosened his grip slightly. Not enough to let her wrench free but enough to let blood back into her prickling fingertips.

“Look,” said the man in that same slightly shy voice, “You’ll be alright. I promise.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” She asked through bared teeth. She couldn’t glare at the stranger behind her so she glared at Jax. He glared right back.

“Doesn’t matter how it makes you feel. You’re lucky we’re giving you these options.”

“Oh, thanks!” She tossed her head back indignantly and felt the man behind her jump. Quick as a whip, Jax pulled a rusty-looking knife from his boot and pressed the tip over her heart. Time crystalized as she sucked in a breath.

“One more option for ya,” he drawled, so close to Ada that she could smell his awful breath. Andy and the other man wrestled him away and he didn’t fight them, although he still held his knife aloft. He glared at her.

“Calm down, Jax!” ordered Andy. “She comes with us. Go home.” Jax glared at him for a long moment. Then he pointed at him with his blade.

"You better know what you're doin'," he flipped the knife over his knuckles and slunk quietly away, weaving stealthily through the abandoned shantytown. No doubt evading the notice of the shadow men.

Ada choked out a breath. The panic in her sternum was fading leaving her with a terrible dread curdling in her abdomen. These men could take her anywhere. The knowledge of it thrummed against her temples. Confined as they were in the grip of one of the men her hands grew slick.  _ Anywhere. _ But nowhere good. She kicked and bucked. Her stomping heel caught the toe of a boot but it was already being pulled away. 

"Hey! You're alright. Just take a breath," said another man soothingly. In the darkness, Ada made out a strong nose and what looked like a piece of cloth wrapped around his head. He was the one who had laughed earlier. "Here, look. You don't have to be afraid." He stretched out a forearm to her. She froze. Tattooed under the crook in his elbow was a long line of faded numbers. She gasped.

"You're from the box?" She whispered.

"Yes. And I get it. You don't know us and you don't trust us. That's smart. But I swear we're just trying to make sure everyone is safe, okay? I swear to God you’ll be fine. So hear us out. If it's so terrible I'm sure you can escape. Deal?" He looked at her intently, sticking out his hand for a shake as though he had forgotten her hands were clamped behind her. 

"So I have a choice, then?"

"Oh man, no. I'm sorry but no. I think you'll like it there though if that helps." She shut her eyes. This was all becoming too much. 

As they began the short walk back to the house the man with the bandanna kept talking to her in hushed tones. 

"My name is CC. How about you?" He looked sideways at her in the blue moonlight. Ada was having trouble placing herself in her body. This couldn't be happening. This was not what happened to her.

"Ada," she said numbly, tripping over a bit of uneven ground. 

"Oh, sorry." Said the man holding her arms. It was hard to walk that way.

"Look, Ada. You're not a prisoner. I swear. We're gonna fill you in when we get somewhere more secure. We-" CC cut off. Andy had stopped. His posture was tense and he gestured for them to be quiet. Even Ada's shocked nerves jumped. No one ever wanted to hear something at night. They waited in the silence for several seconds and Ada prayed that Andy was wrong. The man holding her released her arms but she hardly noticed. She was frozen awaiting. Listening. She should have been running. 

Shadows rushed out of the darkness. They were huge. Humanoid and so fast she didn't scream until a long metal staff came swinging towards her. Steel rammed into her sternum and she fell backward, already scrabbling away.

"Jinxx! Light, now!" Came Andy's voice and their little patch of desert came alive with crackling blue light. "We need to take them out!" He yelled. Ada groped for her knife but it wasn’t on her belt and she remembered that it was lying in the dust where she had fallen earlier. Someone stepped between her and the shadow. Through her watering eyes, she thought she saw him blocking blows from the staff with his bare hands.  _ Impossible. _

Her chest burned. All around was the chaos of fighting. Yelling and thuds of impact and loud bangs. Flashes of bright white light erupted in the fray, confusing her poor eyes. Andy crouched in front of her and snatched her arm, pulling her to her feet. There was a cut above his eyebrow. Still holding her wrist he shoved the handle of a heavy dagger into her hand.

“Take this, and get your back against that wall,” he ordered, pointing to what used to be part of a cinderblock wall, “If you need to use it aim for the neck. There’s no armor.” He ushered her forwards then sprinted off to help one of his friends who was fighting in between two shadows, fending them off with a long pole. It was pandemonium. Ada could make out at least six shadows. Andy had managed to conjure up two more daggers and was fighting one of them who had now abandoned the man with the staff. To her left CC knocked one to the ground with his fists while another man shot bolts of crackling energy from his hands. Ada gripped the dagger harder in her hand. If she survived the night nothing would ever surprise her again. The young man who had held her wrists earlier had disappeared. She was scouring the scene for him in the flickering light from the energy bursts when something collided hard with the side of her head. 

There was no time to think. She slashed at the looming figure but her knife barely marked the tough black fabric covering his chest. It aimed another powerful swing at her head but she ducked and his fist hit the brick as she lurched away. 

She was hurtling through the night again, dodging the ghosts of abandoned structures that loomed out of the darkness like monsters. She could hear the ruckus of the fight and the part of her brain that wasn’t dizzy from terror or being punched had the good sense to pray that everyone would be lured into the greater fight. That no one would follow her. She was just beginning to hope when she collided with something she couldn’t see. She fell again for the umpteenth time and the quiet boy from earlier flicked into view. There was nothing and then he was simply there. She screamed.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he said soothingly pointing back towards the fight. Ada looked and in the strange unnatural light she saw that only one of the shadows was still standing. As they watched Andy threw one of his daggers and it collapsed to the ground.

“It’s alright,” said the young man again, “We’ve got a few minutes, the rest aren’t close.”

“Alright??? What the hell do you mean alright? You were invisible!” yelled Ada in hysterics. The effort made her dizzy again and she wobbled, nearly blinded by the pain in her chest and head. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling. 

“I know. I promise I’ll fill you in later but we’ve got to go. We have a few minutes but only a few minutes.” 

Once again that night she was being pulled forward by her arm without any idea where she would end up but this time it was as though she wasn’t in her body. She watched, a disconnected spectator as her own feet tripped and stumbled towards the scene of the battle. The only thought in her head was that there weren’t any thoughts. The shock and the fear and the stress had simply overwhelmed her. She couldn’t outrun them again if she tried and she had no energy left to fight. She was aware of Andy’s dagger still clutched loosely in her free hand but the fuzzy, muted feeling in her brain left thought of trying to use it now seeming futile. When they reached the light cast by the crackling ball of energy the young man said something about the Shadow Men to the rest of them. Ada didn’t hear most of it through the commotion going on in her head. One of them, Andy, she thought, said something to her. Maybe asking if she was okay. When she didn’t respond he traded a look with the man with short spiked hair next to him. They no longer seemed concerned about her running because Andy propped her arm around his shoulders to support her as they led her back to the abandoned house. He did take the knife from her hand though. When they opened the deep cabinets in the kitchen one of them lifted away a piece of wood from the bottom to reveal a long ladder descending into darkness. It had a false bottom all along. She just managed to climb down it just before the fuzziness blacked out the pain and everything else with it.  


“The best I can tell she’s probably fractured her ribs. Maybe a concussion too by the look of that bump…

“When will she wake up?”

“I’m sorry, Andy. I’m not really a doctor. I can’t be sure. The bump is big, which, um, I think is good because it should mean the swelling is all on the outside of her skull." Ada's head was cold, but it felt like someone was squeezing all her senses out of it. Thoughts ran quickly through her mind, the voices, the fight, the cold again, but as soon as she caught one it slipped elusively away. She was lying on something soft for the first time in years. In her confusion all she wanted to do in the world was to lay here and sleep until the painful vice gripping her skull loosened. 

"You're doing a great job here Layla. I really appreciate it," said Andy.

"Um, thanks sir," Came Layla's response, sounding embarrassed.

"You don't need to, um-" said Andy but he trailed off. His voice was so soothing. All deep and strong, yet somehow soft. True, Ada hadn't heard many voices since leaving the box, but she couldn’t recall having ever in her life hearing anything quite like it. Hearing him talk made her feel safer. It made the cot feel softer. If only she'd had a sound like that during those long, freezing nights in the desert. Her eyes flew open.  _ The desert! _ She was supposed to be in the desert! 

Even the dim light in the room needled into her brain, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut for a few moments. Blinking through the thump of her heart she tried to get her bearings. She was in a largish room with several mismatched beds and cots. The walls and ceiling looked like they'd been hewn from flecked gray stone and there were several bulbs hanging from the ceiling on wires, but only one of them was lit. As far as Ada could tell the other beds were empty. The air in there was cool and slightly static like the dead of night when there wasn't a whisper of wind. Where could this be? She wondered, panicked. She tried to control her rapid breathing but of course the other occupants heard it. Andy and Layla both gathered around her pillow.

"How do you feel?" asked Layla gently. 

"Let me go," rasped Ada, not successful at hiding the fear in her voice."

"Oh dear," said Layla and fixed Andy with an alarmed look. "What happened?"

"She was sleeping in the entrance house. It was either this or have Jax take her back to the Roaches," answered Andy, sounding tired.

"Oh, good call then," Layla leaned back over Ada and tried to shine a little light into her eyes but Ada squeezed them shut immediately. The light made her headache explode. 

"Honey, I need to check your pupils. You got hit pretty good back there and I need to make sure there's no brain damage," she tried to shine the light again but Ada kept her eyes closed. 

"Just let me go." she begged. "I swear I won't tell anyone anything. I don't even know where we are!" 

"You're underground," Andy told her, sounding firm but not unkind. "And you're safe here. I swear. But you have a concussion and you need to let Layla examine you." She wanted to leave, but she was becoming less panicked and more baffled. They were underground? How could that be? Pulling coherent thoughts out of her swimming, aching head was like pulling bricks out of the mud. But if these people intended to hurt her, why would they bother pretending otherwise? And if they didn't, why not just let her leave? 

Andy sighed again. Ada thought, or maybe hoped, that he sounded sympathetic. "If you went out in your condition, would you make it?" He waited for an answer but he didn't get one, so he continued. "I can't let you leave right now. You'd be captured or killed and it would put everyone in danger. So just let Layla take a look at you and I swear we can figure the rest out later once you're feeling better." Ada considered this. She didn’t want to stay. She couldn’t trust them, but Andy was right. She would probably be killed in this state. She opened her eyes and tried to read their expressions but they just looked like they were trying to read  _ her _ . Her head swam. Hunger and exhaustion bit keenly into her guts, eating away her energy, her fight, even some of her fear.

“Okay,” Ada whispered. She thought she saw Andy almost smile but Layla positively beamed. 

“Thank you sweetheart,” she chirped, “I just have to check your pupils and clean a few more cuts. Then you can sleep.”


	2. Unexpected Company

Andy leaned tensely against the solid stone wall outside the medical room.  _ Fuck.  _ he thought.  _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. _ This girl was a problem. He couldn't keep her against her will forever, even if it was for her own good. But if she were to ever leave and get caught she could get every member of the Legion killed. Dozens of lives and he was responsible for all of them. He strung his hair through his fingers and tugged until his scalp stung, grateful for the cold semidarkness in the tunnel which lessened his headache somewhat. Five seconds. He would give himself five seconds to panic. _One_. He took a deep breath in through his nose, letting his nausea rise. _Two_. He let it out slowly through his mouth, and the nausea fell again in a controllable rhythm. _Three_ : he reminded himself that he wasn't a kidnapper. He was keeping her here because he had to and the lock he'd put on the door after Layla had gone to bed was a necessary precaution. Ada might not be happy about it but she would be okay. _Four._ Ada would come to appreciate being here. She would understand if she knew what was at stake. _Five._ He told himself that this was the best solution for everybody. It didn't really make him feel better. 

Squaring his shoulders he marched down the tunnel towards the strategy room, his guilt and frustration burrowing deeper into his gut with every step. Everyone was waiting for him inside looking bloodied, filthy, and exhausted. Lonny had his forehead clasped in his hands and was staring forlornly at the scratched surface of the table they all sat around. Andy clapped him gently on the shoulder as he passed by to take his seat and cleared his throat.

"Layla checked over Ada. Some broken ribs and maybe a concussion but otherwise nothing life-threatening. She's pretty out of it but she's agreed to stay at least for now," he pinched the bridge of his nose as his headache flared up, "we need to discuss what we're going to do if… if we have to force her to stay." No one looked very happy at the prospect. Jinxx’s chair shrieked against the floor as he scooted forwards.

"We need to ask the obvious question," he said sternly, folding his arms on the surface of the table, "What if we’ve just invited a spy into the catacombs? I don’t like that she’s here. We can’t allow her access to sensitive information until we know if we can trust her!"

Andy fidgeted uncomfortably, surprised by Jinxx’s anger. He didn't think Ada could be working for F.E.A.R. Not after he’d seen the terror on her face, how hard she’d fought to escape. No one could act that well, Could they?

"C’mon Jinxx", said Jake rubbing his eye with a bruised hand. "If F.E.A.R. knew where we were they wouldn't send one girl. They would send an army. We’d be dead already."

"It isn't impossible that they want to gauge our defense first," retorted Jinxx, "she's a risk and we can't afford that!"

"So what are you suggesting we do?,” Jake asked, nearly yelling, “We aren't murderers!" 

"No one is suggesting that! But there are a number of compounds that can make you lose time. I’ll take her to my lab. I’ll give her something that will make her forget all about us, and we can send her on her way. She won't be our problem anymore."

“No!” snapped Andy. “No, we’re not going to drug her and dump her back in the desert!” Jinxx’s expression soured further and the two men glared at each other across the table. Jinxx was looking out for the Legion, Andy got that. But to suggest drugging an injured person and dumping them in the desert to be found by the shadows struck him as inhumane. She would die and there would be no difference than if they killed her themselves. 

CC cleared his throat after the angry silence stretched on too long. “Well then we need to figure out what we’re going to do with her. Jinxx is right, we don’t know her,” he glanced at the expression on Andy’s face and quickly added, “...yet.” There was another stony silence for a moment and Lonny, who had been quiet during the argument added,

“I… I think we can trust her. I think she’s telling the truth.”

“Of course  _ you _ think we should trust her,” Jinxx grumbled.

“Hey!” Said CC, “Jinxx I get that you’re pissed and worried, we  _ all _ are, but don’t be an ass to Lonny over it!” Lonny had shrunk a little in his seat, but he didn’t take back what he said. Instead he looked Jinxx, who looked a little abashed, and asked,

“Well,” he said in his shy, measured voice, “Andy’s right. She’ll be killed if we send her out again. So what do you think we should do?”

“We at least need to keep her behind locked doors at all times,” Jinx responded grumpily, sitting straight-backed in his chair. Andy recoiled at the idea. He wasn’t a kidnapper. He couldn’t be. That was what F.E.A.R. did, not him.

“How long do you expect me to keep an innocent girl locked up?” He asked Jinxx, “Until the war is over? That could be years!” Jinxx opened his mouth to speak again but Andy cut him off. “No! I know you just want to keep the legion safe but that’s how F.E.A.R. works. It  _ can’t  _ be how we work.” Andy took a fortifying breath. “We’ll keep her locked in the medical wing until she’s recovered from her concussion and then I’ll test her. I’ll be able to see if she’s working for the Mogul, okay?” he asked, looking at Jinxx.

“Fine.” Said Jinxx looking supremely unhappy about it. “We’ll do it your way. But Andy, we have to be more careful with her. This isn’t someone we pulled off a prison transfer bus or from a work camp raid. I saw her get hit pretty hard back there. Her head’s scrambled. You might not be able to see her whole past. We’ll have no real way of knowing where she came from or why, and until we do she can’t be let in on any plans. She already knows too much.

“I know, Jinxx. I’m not an idiot.” He stretched back in his chair, suddenly becoming much more aware of the aches from the fight and the weary exhaustion pushing down heavily on his eyelids and his shoulders.

Jinxx looked at him for another long moment and then sighed, defeated. “Are you sure about that?” he asked with an almost-smile.  _ No, _ thought Andy but he chuckled, feeling some of the tension melt away. It was always like that with Jinxx. He could be pragmatic and even cold but he wasn't unreasonable. Andy could appreciate those qualitiesas much as it upset him. At any rate the legion could never have survived so long without Jinxx. It had been his idea to use the tunnel system -once an upascale hotel catering to wealthy people who wanted an authentic cave-living experience- into a base, his idea to disguise the outbuildings as decrepit housing and to divert some of the underground stream that ran through what was once the main lobby to keep the reservoir tanks full so they even had cold running water. It had been difficult work and it had cost them, but though he'd questioned it then it all seemed like strokes of genius to him now. He'd even been the one to insist they retrofit some rooms into prison cells and though they'd never had to use them a tiny part of Andy was glad they existed in case Ada didn't decide to stay on her own.

“Alright,” he said clapping his hands together, “now that that’s settled we need to find a way to get Jax to talk to us about… whatever he was going to tell us about before Jinxx shocked him and Ada broke his nose so…” Andy looked around. Now that the major conflict had passed he could see that everyone looked as spent as he was. They were all trying to pay attention but Lonny kept blinking slowly and as he surveyed the room CC yawned like a bear and wiped his watering eyes with his thumbs. “Okay, you know what? We can do this in the morning. Goodnight you guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all don't mind this chapter being a bit later than expected. I realized that I needed to spend some more time defining who my characters are and thus, defining the world they live in and vice-versa. I still have a long way to go but my outline is much clearer now so I'll just have to see where it takes me. I'm bot sad and grateful to say that 2020 has given me a lot of material to pull from. I hope that wherever you are you've found something to be hopeful about this year. Remember - evil, like anything else, fights the hardest when it's dying. Our suffering now could be the key to joy and love in the future so hang on and don't stop fighting.
> 
> Big thanks to TheJokerQueen13, Cornersone13, and User0126 for the first kudos left on my story and especially to Cornerstone13 whose enthusiastic comments helped motivate me to get my ass in gear and write. 
> 
> I appreciate all of you who are reading this. If you have any ideas for my story or characters don't be afraid to pop them in the comments! No guarantees I'll use them all but looking at my story through another lens is a major help to my creative process.
> 
> (Sidenote: does anyone know how to increase text size or line spacing using the rich text editor? Because I feel like this typeface isn't super accessible.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter you guys! If you want me to update more regularly then pop a comment down below because positive reinforcement really works on me. What do you think of everyone and everything so far?
> 
> Also, I want to make one thing clear. This story is going to be smut-free because even in the literary world consent is important. But that doesn't mean that sex or sensuality are bad things. If you're informed, consenting adults than having a sexuality is just as healthy and natural as not having one. Make sure your decisions about sex are yours and only yours and know that no one else's body can make yours any less valuable.


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